On the opening lap of the race the pole position-holding No. 9 AT Racing Ligier of Mikkel Jensen was blocked by several LMP2 cars at the first corner, running wide to avoid any problems and dropping back to 5th on the opening lap. Wayne Boyd in the No. 3 United Autosports Ligier-Nissan took the lead ahead of the No. 16 Panis Barthez Competition Ligier of Theo Bean. The championship-leading No. 2 United Autosports Ligier of Sean Rayhall also had issues on the opening lap and ended up 10th at the end of lap 1.

This set up a fight back by Jensen in the No. 9 Ligier and he quickly moved from fifth to second on lap 2. By lap 8 he was past Boyd to take the lead just as the first full-course yellow was declared. At the restart the gap quickly opened up to 13 seconds. In the meantime, Rayhall was also making progress and was up to fifth in the second hour of the race and closing on the cars ahead of him, with the No. 15 RLR M Sport Ligier of John Farano the first target.

With the two Safety Car periods and two more full-course yellows the order rapidly changed at the front of the field but the No. 9 AT Racing Ligier with Alexander Talkanitsa was holding a healthy 44-second lead over the No. 15 Ligier and the No. 6 360 Racing Ligier. Both the No. 15 and the No. 6 Ligiers dropped back when they were given a 2m20s stop-and-go penalty for overtaking the safety car, allowing the No. 9 Ligier to pull even further ahead.

However there was a sting in the tail for the No. 9 car when Talkanitsa had to come in to serve a stop-and-go penalty for not turning off the engine while the car was being refueled. However the gap was now so large the AT Racing Ligier emerged from the pitlane still nearly two minutes ahead of the nearest LMP3 rival.

John Falb, now at the wheel of the No. 2 United Autosports Ligier, was lying in second place before the final round of pit stops. He emerged behind the No. 7 Duqueine Engineering Norma of David Droux and the American started to catch the French driver as the race entered the final stages. At the checkered flag the No. 9 AT Racing Ligier, with Alexander Talkanitsa Jr. at the wheel, took the team's debut LMP3 win, two years after its last ELMS victory in the LMGTE class at Imola in May 2015. The No. 7 Ligier was second, with championship leaders Falb and Rayhall in third place.

LMGTE: Ferrari over Aston Martin

The LMGTE category is usually one of the most exciting class to watch and the race at Spa-Francorchamps proved to be no exception.

The race started with the No. 77 Proton Competition Porsche of Joel Camathias getting a good start from pole position with the championship-leading No. 90 TF Sport Aston Martin of Euan Hankey picking up some front end damage in an unseen incident on the opening lap. Hankey was holding off a determined challenge from the No. 55 Spirit of Race Ferrari of Aaron Scott and the No. 99 Beechdean AMR Aston Martin Vantage of Ross Gunn. Hankey was clearly struggling with the handling of his Aston Martin and the No. 55 Ferrari and No. 99 Vantage made their way past on the third lap.

Now it was the turn of Camathias to come under pressure from Scott, who passed the Swiss driver on lap 7 at La Source just before the first full-course yellow. At the restart the Porsche fought back and Aaron Scott was forced to defend allowing Ross Gunn to close up to the dueling pair. Giorgio Roda also joined the party in the No. 51 Ferrari 488 and a four-way battle ensued for the LMGTE lead.

Gunn made a move to overtake at Les Combes on lap 17 but had to back out. The former British GT4 champion learned from his mistake and successfully repeated the move on the next lap to secure second place. He then caught up with the leader and started to challenge the leading Ferrari for the lead. At the end of the first hour the first of the Safety Car periods saw the GTE field head into the pitlane for the first round of stops.

At the restart the No. 99 Aston Martin, now with Darren Turner at the wheel, led the race from the No. 77 Porsche of Christian Ried. Ried's race came to an end when he was hit from behind by an LMP3 car, bringing out the second Safety Car of the race. The Porsche was recovered to the pits and repaired but it was 21 laps behind the leading GTE car at the end of the race and classified in sixth place.

The lead battle was now between the No. 99 Beechdean Aston Martin and the No. 51 Spirit of Race Ferrari with Rino Mastronardi at the wheel. This battle raged until the next round of pit stops when Andrea Bertolini took over the Ferrari and built up a healthy lead as the No. 99 Aston Martin, now with Andrew Howard at the wheel, falls into the clutches of the No. 66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari of Jody Fannin.

In the final hour the No. 51 Ferrari, now with Giorgio Roda back behind the wheel, built up a one-lap advantage over the No. 66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari, now with Will Stevens in the cockpit. It looked like it was going to be a Ferrari -1-2-3 at the checkered flag but Ross Gunn had other ideas and finished ahead of the No. 55 Spirit of Race Ferrari of Aaron Scott to secure the final podium place.

With the No. 90 TF Sport Vantage being classified fifth, the championship couldn't be closer with TF Sport holding 87 points and JMW Motorsport with 86 points, with Nicki Thiim, Salih Yoluc and Euan Hankey holding a similar advantage over Jody Fannin and Rob Smith.